Between Realms
by randomshyt
Summary: Love doesn't always transcend all. Was this love real or just her imagination? Does she really know him? She doesn't know. He knows the love is real. He knows the true her. But he also knows that he can never have her. One-shot NaLu (actually its mostly GrayLu but its kind of confusing until you read til the end :) )


Lucy loved the soft scent of linen mixed with the clean fragrance of cologne, which name remains unknown to her. It was the exact smell that she had woke up to every dawn for the past nine months and today was no exception.

"Mornin' Luce." Gray smiled, the side of his lips curled slightly into a lopsided grin, then leaned down to press a kiss on Lucy's forehead. "Time to wake up- we gotta get some groceries! Our fridge's empty at the moment and I need food," he moaned.

She snorted and muttered, "A pig as always." But Lucy inwardly smiled at the way Gray used the word 'we' and 'our'- it just made them seem… connected.

She had never loved anyone like Gray before.

She will never love anyone how she loves Gray.

* * *

The circumstances in which they met under was pretty bizarre.

In hindsight, it was a pretty bizarre day in general.

When she left for work from her apartment that morning, he found two people hollering at each other in the lift lobby, their loud and agitated voices echoing through the unusually silent hallway. Lucy noticed a third figure, sitting on the couch in the dimly lit lobby, seemingly amused at the fight occurring in front of him. She frowned a bit but continued her way, thinking nothing of it. She didn't notice how the man on the couch had shifted his gaze to her when she entered the elevator.

While driving to work, she drove past a car crash that turned into a brawl between the two drivers just as she whizzed pass. Lucy was surprised, and thought that it was just a bad day for them.

She started to notice something was odd when her boss slammed down his portfolio during a meeting to yell at one of the senior editors who had made a grammar mistake in a recent new publication. The journalist knew the boss had a short temper but he had never blown his top like this- definitely not over a minor blunder made by one of his beloved workers.

It was strange how conflict seemed to follow her throughout the day.

As Lucy dragged her feet to the garage after the end of a demanding day at work, she spotted a figure leaning on her car, ever so casually smoking a cigarette. Her body froze. She could feel it. The danger in the air. The man then turned around, a devilish grin creeping on his face as he chucked the cigarette on to the floor, not even bothering to take out the flame.

Lucy didn't remember exactly what the man said when he started to walk towards her, but she did remember how clammy her palms felt and the desperate feeling of wanting to escape, but couldn't. She was rooted to the ground. Something- no, everything about the man approaching her was terrifying. It was almost as if… he wasn't human?

Just as he was inches in front of her face, a different voice rang through the garage, a bellow of rage, warning the man to back off. Lucy remembered rapidly spinning around to find the source of the voice and seeing Gray there, just a couple of feet away from her. Confused, she turned to face the man again but he had vanished into thin air.

That was how Lucy met Gray.

* * *

The relationship started casual, it turned out they lived in the same building and so they began to hang out together and eat together blah blah blah. It wasn't long before Lucy was head over heels in love with Gray blah blah blah. Basically, your average run-of-the-mill love story. Some might say it was because he seemed to mysteriously show up whenever Lucy was in trouble, whether if it's to save her from a flat tire or strange people like the man she encountered the day she met Gray.

"Is it just me or is Crocus getting more dangerous lately?"

"Huh?"

"You know, those weird guys you've been saving me from."

"Coincidence, maybe?"

He always evaded those sorts of questions. She would be lying if she said she wasn't curious but if Gray felt uncomfortable talking about it, it was probably best not to pursue the matter further. Sometimes she liked to imagine that she was a target of a mafia and those strange people were trying to capture her. But she knew it was a figment of her imagination, born from her ambition of wanting to become a writer.

However, Lucy knew the fact that Gray was always there for her was just an added bonus. She loved him. His childishness, his impulsiveness, his occasional bouts of maturity that was extremely uncharacteristic of him. She embraced all of it. Lucy didn't even mind that Gray worked odd hours and would sometimes be gone for days. He always came back when he said he would. Every single time.

She soon moved in with Gray to the bachelor suite she had always wanted when the tenants there decided to move to a different city. She was promoted to a higher position and was given a raise faster than anyone that her company, she bought herself a more luxurious car and her parents accepted Gray with ease at a family reunion over Christmas. Her mother mentioned how he was more like a good luck charm or a guardian angel of some sort to her rather than a boyfriend and privately, Lucy could not agree more. Gray just grinned at her and kissed her temple.

What Lucy didn't like though, was the way Gray would occasionally look at her. Sometimes Lucy would catch Gray staring at her, and beneath the love and indulgence, she would see pain. It was almost as if he would lose her any second and… She couldn't describe it. It was unsettling, but she knew that Gray reciprocated her feelings, just from the way Gray looked at her.

That was enough for Lucy.

* * *

"Morning, Gray." It was their one-year anniversary. For once, Lucy was the one who woke up first. She had been nervous for days, picking a restaurant for dinner and choosing a gift for him. It wasn't easy, considering it was usually Gray who planned their dates, but since it was their one year anniversary, Lucy thought a special date planned by none other than herself would be most befitting of the occasion.

She spent the entire last week meticulously planning for this day, from breakfast to dinner, the entire day's events, up to and including what was to happen beneath the bedsheets at night.

"Come on, get up." She chirped as she yanked the covers off of Gray's body and stretched her arm to pull at his cheek. He caught Lucy's hand in his own, stubbornly keeping his eyes shut as he mumbled, "Five more minutes Luce." He then pulled her back to bed, throwing his whole figure onto Lucy, pinning her down with ease.

"Get off," she giggled at Gray's childishness, slapping a palm on his chest. "You're heavy."

"Ugh, you're no fun," he whined as he removed himself. He then perked up as if he just remembered what day it was and asked, "Alright, so where are we going?"

Her amber eyes lit up immediately, as she started to ramble on about the activities she had planned for the day, occasionally asking for Gray's input just to confirm that he was absolutely copacetic with all of it. What Lucy didn't notice was his reluctance to get ready for the day. Neither did she notice the truck that was headed towards them as they drove towards the breakfast place she chose.

* * *

The first question she asked was "How's Gray? Is he okay?"

A pause.

To which her parents replied, extremely concerned, "Honey, who's Gray?"

A girl with hair white as snow burst into the private ward before sputtering, "Lucy! Are you alright? I rushed here as quick as I could, I-"

"Who are you? And where's Gray?"

The girl stared at her in shock.

Looking at her face, Lucy started to remember details. Things like her name, how they met through a mutual friend's party during high school, how they soon became best friends, how they became roommates about a year ago, up to why she was in the hospital. She was driving to pick up some groceries to prepare a 'lavish' dinner to celebrate Mirajane's recent promotion at work when a truck crashed into her car from behind. But Lucy also remembered everything about Gray, his scent, his face, every gesture and every word that came out of his mouth. She could remember the warmth of his touch, the softness of his lips, the stars in his eyes and the love she felt for him.

Lucy blacked out.

* * *

She woke up the next day, and asked for Gray again but to no avail. "I'm sorry but I'm afraid there have been no recent patients named Gray," the nurse informed Lucy for the umpteenth time, her impatience masked behind a thin veneer of politeness.

While she was resting, she overheard the doctors discussing her condition to her family. The doctors suggested that her confusion came from the concussion she received from the car crash, and that her memory should clear up soon. With that, she was released from the hospital.

Except that it didn't. In fact, Lucy became more hysterical with each passing day.

The apartment was just as how she left it. Her clothes were exactly where she put them; the fridge was as empty as before because of her laziness to fill it up; even the bathroom was as messy as usual. But it was different. The otherwise empty guest room was occupied by Mira; Gray's shaver was replaced by a heap of cosmetics and more importantly, the lack of his scent on Lucy's bed. The distinct scent that she loved so much. Gone. The crazy thing was that she remembered how everything had happened. Mira's new workplace was nearby the apartment so she decided to crash at Lucy's place. There was a huge sale at the drugstore so Mira decided it was a good idea to stock up on make-up. As for the scent… Gray just simply never existed.

When Lucy checked the lease of the apartment, only her name appeared. Lucy phoned the manager, only to hear a story about how she had the manager notify her when the bachelor suite was available because she had been wanting it for a while. She remembered that moment too. A version with Gray beside her and co-signing the lease, and a version only by herself.

When she questioned her parents about Gray's attendance at their Christmas family reunion, they only frowned harder, telling her that she went alone, as usual. There was no one named Gray that she had mentioned before. Ever.

So why was everything so vivid in her mind?

Every night, she would dream of the moments he used to have with Gray, but when she woke up, the other side of the bed was empty and cold.

There was no trace of Gray's existence anywhere, no matter how hard she searched.

As weeks passed, he would dream less and less of Gray. Not before long, she had forgotten the scent of his cologne, the warmness of his fingertips, even the sound of his voice.

Then more important things.

How tall he was, what the color of his hair is, the exact tone of his skin, even his facial structure became a blur in her memory.

Little by little, those memories were slipping through her fingers like fine sand.

Then, even his name.

A month later, all Lucy had left was the mixture of love and pain she used to see in his eyes, and the feeling of being in love.

In love with him.

Him.

What was his name again?

Lucy crinkled her brows.

She didn't want to forget him.

* * *

-Three months later-

Lucy grabbed at the man who walked passed her in the middle of the park. She didn't even know why she did it, she was on her way to buy an ice cream at the stand just a couple of meters away, but her hands reacted faster than she did. So, when she met the other party's bewildered eyes, she was planning to smile awkwardly and apologize for her random outburst.

But she didn't. She couldn't.

"I…It seems… That I should know you." Lucy stuttered, her sentences incoherent and in fragments. "But it's all… It's all jumbled up- I don't know- I can't…"

"… Do I?" Lucy finally sputtered out, scanning the man's face desperately, looking for any sign that this was the person she had been trying so hard not to forget for the past three months.

He was so familiar but so strange at the same time. He… Shouldn't be looking at her as if she's a complete stranger, no- where's the love in his eyes? The scent wasn't right either, it was supposed be crisper, fresher, not the slightly citrusy one she was currently smelling. Also, the man was not wearing a shirt, something _he_ would most definitely _not_ do. But the face, the eyes. It was most definitely him. The color of his skin was a healthy tan, a pair of dark blue colored eyes, the length of his fingers was just right-

The man's eyes showed genuine surprise, giving her the once-over. He shook his head lightly, before kindly saying, "No, I'm sorry. You've got the wrong person."

He turned and walked away without a second glance.

A blue-haired woman emerged from the crowd, calling out to the man. "Gray!"

Lucy watched as Gray rushed to meet the woman and heard her heave a sigh of relief, saying, "Juvia was looking for you everywhere! Where did you go? You just woke up from that coma, you shouldn't be running off by yourself again!"

"I've been awake for three months already, geez…"

Three months? She tried listen to what they were saying, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw someone else.

Someone on the shorter side, spikey cherry-blossom pink hair, sharp obsidian eyes sparkling with mischief. He looked nothing like Gray.

But the look he had. The one that Lucy could never forget.

It was him.

Then he was gone.

Lucy ran to the spot where that person was, grabbing at random strangers desperately asking if anyone had seen the person that was here a second ago. But nothing. Everyone looked at her as if she were insane.

She was insane.

Lucy definitely felt insane.

The person she was trying so hard to hold on to all this time, never actually existed.

Mira found her standing in the middle of the park. "Lucy?" She exclaimed, shocked, "Why are you crying? Who did this to you?"

She reached up and felt the wetness of her own cheek.

Why was she crying? She wasn't sure herself.

She heard herself laugh hysterically.

That person never existed.

It was just a figment of her imagination.

A story that an aspiring writer came up with.

So why did the pain feel so real?

* * *

"How come it took you so long?" Erza awaited Natsu's arrival from the gate, a brow cocked at him, who seemed to walk hesitantly through the entrance of their realm. "Did something happen?"

Natsu strolled right past her, whistling casually, "Nope."

Erza caught up with him, "Then? It's not like you to take so long, I almost thought you weren't going make it before the gate closes. The demons too difficult for you to slay?"

A beautiful smiling face flashed before Natsu's mind. _A guardian angel of some sort._ "Not really. Since I'm a demon myself."

"Well, you want to give me the run down so I can report it to Master?"

He paused.

"I used a mortal's identity and appearance to avoid drawing attention to myself and lured out and killed the escaped demons. The mortal's name is Gray Fullbuster. He was in a coma prior to me arriving so no there were no complications. The damages caused were repaired, all mortals affected were also given alternate memories of events."

"So no loose ends?" Erza inquired.

Natsu nodded silently, lowering his vision slightly.

There was, however, one loose end.

He fell in love.

Natsu heard the heavy sound of the gate between realms shut.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed this fic ^^ Please give a review so I know what I can improve on :))


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